A group was carrying several bundles of three-shuttle cloth on two donkeys; they looked like small-time cloth merchants.

Another group seemed to be two brothers, both burly with thick arms and strong legs, driving two mule-drawn carts loaded with black dates—a specialty of Linqing Prefecture—apparently heading to the dock to deliver their goods.

“Brother Ma Er, you can’t blame us. The manager at the brokerage said that today, nothing is allowed to move at the dock—no loading, unloading, warehousing, or shipping, nothing at all. As for this gentleman, don’t even think about it; everything’s blocked over there too.”

“Brother Lu San, what on earth happened to cause such a commotion?”

The two brothers delivering black dates were clearly regulars here. Smiling, one of them casually reached into a straw sack with a hole in it, grabbed a handful of black dates, and handed them over.

“They’re not worth much, have a taste.”

“Brothers, it’s hard to say. Everyone at the dock is in an uproar, and we don’t know what’s going on. All we know is that this intersection is blocked off. The bosses and managers are all over there, running around like headless chickens…”

He took the black dates and popped two into his mouth, saliva dribbling from the corner of his lips, but his voice dropped a notch: “If you’re not in a hurry, you’d better head back. I’m afraid something’s about to happen.”

“But we agreed on a time with the owner…” The younger man was clearly anxious and was about to speak when his elder brother pulled him aside and whispered, “Thanks, let’s go, we’re heading back!”

“Big brother!” The younger man was flustered. The money from these two shipments of black dates was supposed to be his bride price, and they were already at the dock.

“Hurry up, look over there!” The older brother’s face had turned slightly pale, his gaze fixed on the distance, where a wisp of black smoke was already rising from the southwest corner—this was what he feared most.

Brian Brooks’s gaze followed Philip Brooks, who was already standing on the cart shaft, shading his eyes as he looked southwest.

Philip Brooks’s face had grown grim, the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth and the shifting of his eyes betraying a difficult decision.

Before he could make up his mind, the ground began to tremble slightly. The two brothers with the black dates, clearly used to being out and about, immediately turned their eyes westward.

Through the low earthen wall, one could vaguely see a drifting cloud of yellow dust rising in the eastern sky.

It was late morning, the sun blazing, not a breath of wind by the riverbank, the willow branches by the water drooping from the heat. Other than a large movement of livestock or people, nothing else could kick up such clouds of dust in the wild.

Philip Brooks had already darted onto the cart shaft and leapt onto the cart roof, then from the roof straight up onto the earthen city wall, standing on the battlement, rising on tiptoe to scan the distance.

Brian Brooks and the servant beside him, Nathaniel, both looked alarmed.

Even though Brian Brooks’s mental age was over forty, in this strange world where no one would answer your cries for help, what use was a mind full of grand plans? Who would believe you, who would listen?

A single slash and your fine head would roll; the life of leisure he longed for would end before it even began. At this thought, Brian Brooks couldn’t help but shiver. “Uncle Philip, what’s going on?”

Section Four: Chaos Erupts

With a swift flip, Philip Brooks nimbly leapt from the earthen wall back onto the cart roof, then flipped down again.

Though his expression was as stern as before, Brian Brooks could sense a new, chilling resolve in his eyes.

“Let’s go, Little Ethan! If we don’t leave now, it’ll be too late. I’m afraid bandits have risen!”

Philip Brooks had long fought on the borderlands; just a glance from the battlement was enough for him to get the gist.

Shandong had always been a hotbed of banditry. Back in the day, Liu Liu and Liu Qi started out in Northern Zhili, but only truly rose to power after gaining the support of Shandong’s bandits.

That dense, chaotic crowd—though on foot and not mounted—numbered at least a thousand or two. Plus, he’d noticed black smoke rising from the southeast corner. It was clear this was an inside-outside coordinated attack.

What baffled Philip Brooks, though, was how bandits could rise up in the heartland of the canal, in a place like Linqing Prefecture.

Even if Linqing Garrison was in poor shape, the garrison’s field commander could still muster several hundred elite troops. For these untrained bandits to take on the garrison’s best would be suicide.

But the fires inside the city were even harder for Philip Brooks to comprehend.

Setting fires inside the prefectural city wasn’t something a mere bandit mob could pull off.

What kind of place was Linqing Prefecture? One of the major river and land ports of the north!

The city was full of wealthy merchants, and even the larger shops had several guards. To set fires inside the city as a signal, without inside help, Philip Brooks simply didn’t believe it.

The brokerages and neighborhood headmen here were nothing like those elsewhere; this was what puzzled him most.

He’d already sensed something was off earlier, but after staying in Linqing for a few days—and having heard before coming that the imperial tax supervisors had stirred up a hornet’s nest here—he hadn’t paid much attention.

He didn’t believe anyone would dare seek death right under the garrison’s nose.